UPDATE 5:37 P.M. | Statement from CenturyLink added to the bottom of the post.

As part of a recently introduced telecom reform measure, Colorado lawmakers want to phase out a ratepayer-funded program that reimburses CenturyLink more than $50 million annually for providing phone service in areas deemed to be high cost to serve.

So the Monroe, La-based company has launched a full-fledged digital attack to protect that fund. The campaign has included sending more than 2,500 emails to Colorado lawmakers, including state Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver.

Note to CenturyLink: message received, over 800 before we blocked. Odd that so many of your employees clicked “send” at same moment…#coleg

As wireless and Internet-based phone services become more widely available, lawmakers want to shift a portion of the funds from the two-decade-old High Cost Support Mechanism program toward rural broadband expansion. Similar efforts are underway with the federal version of the high-cost program, called the Universal Service Fund.

Colorado Senate Bill 157 would phase out the state high-cost program altogether by 2025. The program is funded by a surcharge on cellphone and land-line bills.

Steadman said in a follow-up email to The Denver Post that he’s received more than 2,500 messages from CenturyLink employees, with each stating something along the lines of:

I live and pay taxes in Colorado.
Don’t take my job away from me or my co-workers.
Vote for Colorado jobs.
VOTE NO ON SB-157

CenturyLink says that by preventing the company “from recouping costs to serve rural and high-cost service areas, SB-157 could harm more than 400,000 customers in Colorado who will likely no longer be able to receive affordable service.”

CenturyLink can’t provide “affordable” phone service to more than 400,000 Colorado residents without the subsidy when 99.8 percent of the U.S. population now has access to wireless service and 97 percent is covered by at least three carriers?

The company also said the measure would “kill hundreds of jobs in Colorado.” By the way, CenturyLink shed hundreds of jobs in Colorado after acquiring Denver-based Qwest.

CenturyLink said the company expressed concerns about the measure to its employees today and told them that reaching out to “members of the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee would be the most impactful way to let their elected officials know that they were opposed to the bill.”

since my phone bill is already too high. I have century link , and for phone and internet and the modem I pay 98 dollars now if i switch to comcast for an added 7 dollars i get a phone, internet w.modem and basic cable. hmmmmm tough choice. I guess i’m not the only one who doesn’t like centurylink either.

Fablevayne

Email is for peons. What they need is to BUY some favorable legislation. That’s how you do it.

DC rancher

Just how much does it cost to get a GOP legislator to create a new broadband slush fund for the Governor?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YX4ILLGF25I3S7DVVXDAQPPGAA U.S. Citizen

CenturyLink deserves to have some competition. If they were as dedicated about providing quality service at a quality price as they are about spamming legislators, then perhaps I would sympathize more with them.

DeltaDude

Uh, CenturyLink, this is 2012. Analog metallic phone service is a dinosaur technology that needs a respectful burial. Even the has-been hippies in Darwin, California are crying for broadband –

David joined The Denver Post in 1999, his second go-round in the Mile High City. Since then he’s covered a variety of topics – from human services to consumer affairs – most always with an investigative bent. Currently he does investigations and banking.